The government will soon introduce a smart card for commuters to travel in Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses and Metro Rail, said Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar.
Inaugurating the online payment and renewal of licences through the Parivahan portal here on Monday, he said the trial run for the smart travel card has been completed. “It is at an advanced stage with all necessary technical works accomplished for the launch,” he said. As the geo-coding of bus stops was over, the MTC commuters should be able to access information about bus stops, arrival time and departure time in their mobiles, he assured.
Under the geo-coding project, all the buses of the eight State Transport Corporations will soon be installed with GPS device, he said.
100 electric buses
The State will launch 475 new buses this week. A total of 100 electric buses have been proposed to be purchased.
Of them, 80 buses will be allotted for MTC and 20 for Coimbatore city.
Mr. Vijayabhaskar said they were planning to operate 22,000 buses for Deepavali.
The online renewal and payment facilities has been launched for the first time in the country and will be functional in all the 86 RTOs and 56 unit offices in the State.
